Discovered in October 2024, the comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) seems to be promising bright comet of 2025 (it survives the heat of the sunny). I was also lucky to see this one from the Northern Hemisphere despite the fact, that the best show brought only for Southerners.
16 January 2025
Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over Cloudy Duvet – detail
If this was my last attempt to capture the comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS from the Northern Hemisphere, it was definitely the most magical one. I found a beautiful spot by Strbske Pleso Lake in High Tatras (altitude of about 1350 meters), Slovakia, yesterday 16 January just by sunset. The comet was much fainter than days before, but still was there, visible with binoculars. The best of all was the view I had, as the comet appeared just over Dumbier, the highest peak of distant Low Tatras, which rose above a sea of low clouds. Despite the comet being small in the image, I decided to capture the whole scene just to share its captivating view. Used Canon Ra, Tamron 70-200mm@200mm, 1.4x teleconverter, ISO100, f4 190×1/60s (comet tail), foreground panorama of HDR images (same equipment and settings).
Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over Cloudy Duvet – nice cut
Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS over Cloudy Duvet
14 January 2025 – evening
Trees, Planets, and a Dusk Comet – zoom
Trees, Planets, and a Dusk Comet – crop
Despite a very optimistic weather forecast over Slovakia, I was forced to drive over 400 km to Hungary. After a long route, I found a spot near Tiszacsermely, where the view of the comet was partially covered by clouds. Luckily, they started dissipating just a few minutes after sunset, which colored the clouds themself, and then—the comet appeared in the clear part of the sky. I had only about 10 minutes of view until the comet set, however, I don’t regret the long way. The comet was visible even to the naked eyes, best view offered 11×70 binoculars. Used Canon Ra, Tamron 70-200mm@200mm, 1.4x teleconverter, ISO 100, foreground 1/30s, comet enhanced from stack of 19×1/30s (tracked on Vixen Polarie U).
Trees, Planets, and a Dusk Comet
14 January 2025 – forenoon
Iridescence and Comet
Okay, before you start to wow this image, I must state it is not a single frame. Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS was bright yesterday, but it still didn’t overshine the legendary McNaught from 2007. So images like this required advanced processing, including some stacking and HDR works before the final result looked natural enough. I took the data yesterday, 14 January 2025, at the local forenoon, on a 280mm telephoto lens from Záhradné, Slovakia, just when the thick altocumulus clouds started to appear. On the edge of the clouds, you can notice colors due to a phenomenon called iridescence, caused by small water droplets or small ice crystals individually scattering the light of the close Sun (which is away from the field of view). Used Canon Ra, Tamron 70-200mm@200mm, 1.4x teleconverter, ISO 100, f4, HDR; for comet’s tail 42×1/1250s (tracked on Vixen Polarie U), image is about 1/5 crop of the original view.
Iridescence and Comet – crop
13 January 2025
Daytime Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS
You can find the comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS, it is not that difficult. Okay, here is the thing. Firstly I traveled again about 300 km for enough clear skies, which this time appeared over Pribylina, Slovakia. I managed to reach the place around 1pm, which meant the Sun and the comet were high enough over the horizon. Then, I put my camera on a mount with a 200mm and 1.4 teleconverter and set the mount to the north pole as precisely as possible (just by compass). All was hidden in the shadow of my car, so the Sun was not shining in the view. And then I took 72 single short exposures, which I stacked later in one image. Then only applied some mid-hard contrast and sharpening processing, and voilà–the comet popped out! Used Canon Ra, Tamron 70-200mm@200mm, 1.4x teleconverter, f4.0, ISO 100, stack of 72×1/1250s exposures taken on Vixen Polarie U.
Daytime Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS – annotated
12 January 2025
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) before sunrise
This morning, on 12 January 2025, the truly chaotic development of clouds over Slovakia made me travel over 300 km for an uncertain moment to capture the bright comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) successfully. Eventually, I stopped by Gemer village, near Tornaľa, Slovakia, where the skies started to be clear towards the comet. The dawn was too bright and sunrise was supposed to happen about 15 minutes later, so I only started to do many exposures of the field where the comet should be located. All on blind. What a surprise: When I processed the data on the computer, the comet was actually there, against the shining sky! Used Canon Ra, Tamron 70-200mm@200mm, f2.8, ISO 100, stack of 8×1/100s exposures.
11 January 2025
I gave it a try to get comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS at dawn from Slovakia and I was truly surprised. While Mercury was difficult to find, the comet was an easy target. This image was taken today on the hill near Spišské Podhradí, near Spiš Castle, at 6:55 CET, only about 30 minutes before sunrise (!). Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS is so bright that thanks to finding it in the camera’s viewfinder, I could see it immediately with my eyes too (the structures in the clouds in its vicinity helped). Used Canon Ra, Tamron 70-200mm, f2.8, ISO100, stacked of subsequent 10 images of 1/20s.
Dawn Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS
Dawn Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS – crop
